The last time Florida A&M’s basketball team participated in the NCAA Tournament play-in game, it was just fine with coach Mike Gillespie Sr.

“We were ecstatic,” Gillespie said, “because we played our way into the tournament.”

A five seed in the 2004 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament, FAMU rolled through the field and played Lehigh in the play-in game that year. The Rattlers won that, too, earning a 16th seed and date with top-seeded Kentucky.

This year is a much more bitter feeling for Gillespie and the Rattlers. With a 21-13 record, a two seed in the MEAC tournament and, eventually, a conference tournament championship, FAMU is back in Dayton, Ohio, preparing for the play-in game at 6:30 p.m. today against Niagara.

The winner will play Kansas University at 6:10 p.m. on Friday in Chicago.

The Rattlers’ coach, when interviewed Sunday night, preferred to vent rather than answer specific questions. For example, when asked what he knew of Niagara, Gillespie responded, “I know they score a lot of points, but that’s another thing. You don’t even have a chance to prepare for these guys. I would have five days to prepare for Kansas. I’m not saying my five days of preparation would result in a win. But we’re not given that chance here in this first game.”

Gillespie has his own solution to the controversial play-in game. Since teams like Florida A&M and Niagara earned an automatic berth by winning their conference tournament, Gillespie proposed having the play-in game feature two of the final at-large berths, say Illinois and Old Dominion.

The winner of that game would earn a No. 12 seed and play a five seed in one of the regions.

FLORIDA A&M's BRIAN GREENE (23) and DELAWARE STATE'S ELYON BUSH look for a rebound during the first half of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament title game. Florida A&M won Saturday's contest, earning a spot in tonight's NCAA Tournament play-in game.

Florida A&M definitely has the deck stacked against it heading into tonight’s game. The Rattlers have been at home in Tallahassee, Fla., for exactly 24 hours in the last week. The MEAC Tournament finished Saturday night in Raleigh, N.C., and FAMU flew home Sunday and left for Dayton on Monday morning.

Niagara, meanwhile, earned its automatic berth by winning the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament way back on March 5. The Purple Eagles – on an 11-game win streak – have been home in Lewiston, N.Y., since then, resting up for the NCAA Tournament.

If Florida A&M has any advantage, though, it’s big-game experience. The Rattlers have played five NCAA Tournament teams this season, including Maryland, Illinois, Florida, Pittsburgh and Miami of Ohio.

Niagara has just one game against a major-conference foe (St. John’s) and one against an NCAA Tournament foe. It beat Holy Cross, 67-61, on Dec. 29.

Riding the winning streak and the 22-win season, Niagara was just as appalled as Florida A&M that the reward is a hastily-arranged game in Dayton that seems like an undeserved consolation prize compared to the glitz and glamour of the NCAA Tournament.

“It was shocking,” Niagara coach Joe Mihalich told the Buffalo News. “I think everybody was shocked. Maybe some people were even insulted by it, but that’s good.”

As for the game itself, it could be decided by 6-foot-3 Niagara star Charron Fisher (21.0 points, 8.1 rebounds per game) or Florida A&M’s Rome Sanders (15.3 points, 5.9 rebounds) and Brian Greene (11.7, 7.4)

Greene was named MEAC tournament MVP, while Sanders hails from Chicago along with five of his teammates. That’s motivation enough, considering the winner of today’s game heads to the Windy City on Wednesday to get ready for the mighty Jayhawks.

“It would be wonderful,” Gillespie said, “to have those guys go back and participate in front of their home crowd.”

¢ Sensitive reasons?: Many feel Niagara, with its credentials, deserves better than going to the play-in game, generally reserved for the bottom two teams in terms of RPI.

But ESPN.com’s Andy Katz may have unearthed another reason why the Purple Dragons were picked when talking to selection committee chairman Gary Walters.

“Walters said the committee is sensitive to putting in two historically black colleges in the game,” Katz wrote. “Jackson State and Florida A&M, Niagara’s opponent in the game Tuesday night in Dayton, come from : the SWAC and MEAC.”

Jackson State, seeded 16th in the South, will play Florida on Friday.

¢ Slow start: Part of the reason Niagara started the season 1-6 – perhaps preventing a more convincing resume to avoid the play-in game – was because of widespread disciplinary measures.

Six players, including two starters, were suspended at the beginning of the season for their role in the alleged attack of a Niagara baseball player outside a bar in August.

Among those suspended was Fisher, the Purple Eagles’ top player. The baseball player suffered bruised ribs and a concussion.